AC MILAN survived a prolonged Barcelona onslaught to hold their illustrious visitors goalless, but will be left wondering how they fluffed some golden chances to take a lead into the away leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

A series of sublime Barca attacks produced no end product, while Milan had, but wasted, by far the better openings in the match.

The hosts managed to shut out Lionel Messi in red-hot form, though, to give themselves hope for the second leg at the Nou Camp.

Milan squandered their first opening in only the third minute. Space opened up for Kevin Prince-Boateng on the edge of the area, but he hesitated for a split-second and Gerard Pique charged down the shot.

The ball was then headed back in to give Robinho an even better chance unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box, but he skied the ball horribly over the crossbar when it looked a certain goal.

Lionel Messi, one goal shy of 50 in the competition, gained some unwanted attention from a laser pen as he lined up a free-kick on the edge of the area, but could only blame the turf as he slipped while taking it, with Seydou Keita was offside as he tried to head in the unintended cross.

Messi then saw Christian Abbiati spill one of his shots, but the ball somehow evaded the advancing Daniel Alves as Milan survived.

Barca, though, should have had a penalty moments later when Alexis Sanchez fell over Abbiati after beautiful play from Xavi and Sergio Busquets, but the Chilean perhaps went over too easily and was told to get up.

Barca were passing the ball about at speed and forcing passes through seemingly impossible gaps, but they continued to stutter when it mattered, with Messi offside as he tapped in an Alves cross, while Abbiati denied Xavi.

Amid it all, a first-time ball from Clarence Seedorf put Zlatan Ibrahimovic clean through, but goalkeeper Victor Valdez raced out to make a fine save at point-blank range.

Sanchez then looked to have broken clear, but Luca Antonini did not give it up and made a brilliant recovering tackle to prevent the shot.

The second half failed to capture the imagination in quite the same way.

Andres Iniesta cut in from the left to send an early shot wide, but it was hardly a sign of things to come as the game became scrappy thanks to a series of fouls and some unnecessary falls.

Milan lost Robinho to an injury amid the tumbles, but at least cut down the number of direct threats on their goal.

They should have been attacking themselves in the 67th minute when Urby Emanuelson came on to be handed the chance of an instant impact, only to scuff his first touch when a long ball put him clean through.

Barca began to threaten again going into the final 15 minutes. Substitute Cristian Tello fired high into the side-netting from a tight angle and then Messi saw a shot charged down and deflected wide.

From the resulting corner, Carles Puyol's diving header across goal went narrowly wide.

Their best chance of the half came right at the end when Messi stayed on his feet as Milan defenders fell about him, firing in a powerful shot which Abbiati could only parry across goal.

It rolled teasingly towards Tello as he raced in, but cover arrived in the nick of time for Milan.

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MARSEILLE'S decision to field third-choice goalkeeper Elinton Andrade backfired as his mistake gifted Bayern Munich the opening goal on the way to a 2-0 away win in their Champions League quarter-final.

The 32-year-old, preferred to number two Gennaro Bracigliano with first choice Steve Mandanda suspended, allowed Mario Gomez's shot to squirm under his body in the 44th minute of the first leg at the Stade Velodrome.

It was Gomez's 11th Champions League goal this season, behind only Lionel Messi, and 37th in all competitions and kept them on course to reach the final at their own Allianz Arena stadium.

Arjen Robben added a classy second midway through the second half to put the Germans on the brink of a place in the last four.

It was hardly a vintage Bayern display, but it did not need to be to beat a Marseille side in the midst of an awful run domestically.

Saturday's draw with Nice ended a run of seven straight defeats in all competitions, including a cup defeat to lowly Quevilly.

Marseille should have gone in front in the seventh minute when Manuel Neuer produced a brilliant one-handed save diving to his left to keep out Rod Fanni's powerful header from a Mathieu Valbuena corner.

The rebound fell to Loic Remy, who could only slice his effort into the side-netting when it looked easier to score.

The hosts were looking vulnerable at the back, though. Thomas Muller hesitated when he got beyond the last defender, eventually choosing to pull the ball back from the byline when an early shot would have been the better option and his pass evaded everyone in the area.

Neither side were giving likely semi-final opponents Real Madrid any cause for concern, with both squandering possession far too easily.

But Neuer had to be alert against to save from Remy at his near post after the striker had pounced on a poor clearance.

Bayern struggled to seriously test stand-in keeper Andrade until a minute before half-time his mistake handed them the lead.

With Marseille appealing in vain for a free-kick for handball at the other end, a Bayern counter-attack ended with Arjen Robben playing in Gomez.

The Germany striker's side-foot shot from the edge of the area was hardly unstoppable or perfectly placed, but still squirmed under Andrade's body and into the net.

The visitors had another opening early in the second half, but Fanni got back to clear the ball off the toes of Muller as he bore down on goal.Neuer then comfortably held a header from Andre Ayew.

Andrade went a little way to making up for his earlier error by blocking another Gomez shot from inside the area before Remy almost embarrassed Jerome Boateng.

The Marseille man won the ball off the defender on the edge of the area, but his stabbed shot hit Neuer and deflected away.

But Bayern doubled their lead in the 69th minute and, if their first goal was fortunate, this one was beautifully crafted and expertly finished.

Robben played a neat one-two with Muller, breaking into the area from the right as he ran on to the return pass and then sliding a finish into the far corner.

That goal appeared to break the hosts' resolve and they did not look like getting one back to give them hope for the second leg as Bayern saw out a comfortable win.